In the construction of walls for residential areas, the most commom procedure is to utilize 2.times.4 inch studs normally eight feet in length. These studs are vertically positioned parallel to each other in spaced relationship between a baseboard and an overhead board to define a stud framing. The baseboard itself is secured by bolts or other appropriate means to a floor such as a concrete slab.
Normal stud spacing in the foregoing types of construction is sixteen inches. It is the normal practice, accordingly, to simply use a carpenter's ruler and make pencil marks along the base and overhead boards at 16 inch intervals. These marks thus serve to locate the position of the studs.
While the foregoing operation appears simple enough, errors can result. If only a single mark is made at 16 inch intervals, in later positioning the vertical stud, the reference marks may not be consistently used. For example, the mark may be used by the carpenter to designate one side of the lower portion of the stud and as the placing of the studs continues, the mark may later on be used to designate the opposite side thereby throwing off the proper positioning by an amount equivalent to the thickness of the stud. Under such circumstances, the last stud will not correspond to the end of the proposed wall and the entire job has to be redone.
In other instances, the reference marks may be used to position the center of the stud but this positioning requires some guesswork on the part of the carpenter unless he takes the trouble to dissect the width of the stud and make a mark which can then be properly aligned with the 16 inch stud position mark.
It can be appreciated from the foregoing that not only is the proper positioning of studs for framing a time consuming operation, but errors can creep in.